At 32, he’s too young to know the Playboy heyday when the magazine’s owner hosted lavish parties, but Daren Metropoulos is buying the famed Los Angeles mansion where Hugh Hefner hosted them.
The Playboy mansion, a stately 1927 home famous for exotic parties where movie stars, athletes and billionaires frolicked with scantily clad women, will now become the property of Metropoulos – who lives right next door.
He is a principal at private-equity firm Metropoulos & Co. who bought the adjacent property in 2009, is in contract to purchase the property, the Wall Street Journal said.
His father, C. Dean Metropoulos of Connecticut, is a billionaire businessman who resurrected iconic brands such as Twinkies and Pabst Blue Ribbon beer, adored by hipsters.
Daren Metropoulos said in a statement he is less interested in the fame the mansion earned as a home for Playboy bunnies and romping stars and celebrities than restoring its architectural heritage and restoring its luster.
The home’s architect is Arthur Rolland Kelly, who designed hundreds of homes in the Los Angeles area.
“The heritage of this property transcends its celebrity, and to have the opportunity to serve as its steward would be a true privilege,” Metropoulos said.
He declined to disclose the purchase price but it was listed for $200 million by broker Mauricio Umansky of The Agency, as well as Gary Gold and Drew Fenton of Hilton & Hyland.
Jeffrey Hyland, the president of Hilton & Hyland, said the price was “nine digits” and would set a record for the highest-priced residential sale in Los Angeles. He said there were multiple offers for the property, the newspaper reported.
Hefner, who become rich and famous with a magazine that until recently showed nude centerfolds of young, nubile women, bought the property in 1971 at the height of his fame, for only $1.5 million, almost 200 times less than its current listing.
Curiously, while Metropoulos will own the home, Hefner, now 90, has the right to live there as long as he lives. After that, Metropoulos said he will connect it to his own estate to create a 7.3-acre compound.
Metropoulos bought the house next door, which had been used by Hefner’s former wife to raise their two children, from Mr. Hefner in 2009 for $18 million.
The roughly 20,000-square-foot Playboy mansion has 29 rooms, including 12 bedrooms, on 5 acres, according to the sales listing.
It is one of the few private residences in Los Angeles with a zoo license, the listing says. Hefner added a heated swimming pool and a grotto in the 1970s.
Among the famous names who appeared there were Tony Bennett, who sang for Hefner’s 56th birthday party 34 years ago, singer Sonny Bono and kidnapping victim Patty Hearst, although it was just as well known for Playboy bunnies serving drinks in skimpy outfits with little bunny tails.